Irene Gleeson wrote before her death, "It's often said that to be a good teacher, one has to become a great learner. Although I was the white teacher with the western training and the alphabet charts, I had become a student of the Acholi traditions and culture."
She was referring to her early months in Uganda, adjusting to life on a harsh missionfield. As I read her statement, though, immediately I saw again the vision God gave me in 2010 as I sought guidance for the next phase of my life. I saw myself with my children sitting at elementary school desks. The Holy Spirit stood teaching at the front of the classroom, and He smiled as He gazed at us. Then unexpectedly, He came around the desks and sat at the child's desk next to me--a desk much too small for Him! As one of the children climbed into His lap, He said tenderly to me, "We'll learn together now."
I had no idea that the vision was preparing my heart for reaching my children at their level and also for the job God had for me--being a Family Support Assistant who sits every day next to a child at school in order to assist with learning and behavior. God is so consistently kind in His guidance--and sees so clearly into our futures, even when we don't understand!
I've learned that visions give us hope for the immediate present and also guidance for the future. They often puzzle us a little and always surprise us. I've learned that God gives accurate details in many visions, but other times He speaks in idioms and analogies just as Jesus spoke in parables to reach the heart. Always, the Lord is seeking to prepare and guide as He ministers hope and healing.
The Lord has shown me visions that obviously represented spiritual truth in order to give me both the desire and courage to do something completely out of my comfort zone.
During my three years at the University of Great Falls as I obtained my Bachelor's in Psychology, I had an overwhelming longing increase each semester for the staff and students on campus to come to know the incredible love of the Father's heart. One afternoon while at my parents' house, I saw myself stand up on a table in one of my classrooms and begin beseeching the people to see and accept Jesus' great love for them. The vision widened and as I preached from that table, people from all over the campus began to stream into the classroom. Then I saw the water of the Holy Spirit soak the lush lawns of the campus between the buildings, saturating like a reservoir every inch of University soil with the love and grace of God. I knew the vision represented what God could do and I told the Lord, "If You give me the opportunity, I will preach."
The opportunity came. Not as I expected, with me spontaneously jumping up before fellow students, but formerly at a service held yearly in honor of Martin King Luther Jr. President McAllister, who has encouraged me countless times, called me personally and said how much he had been moved by my thank-you speech at the University's scholarship banquet. Since the motto of the University is Uncommon Courage and because I had been given the Courage Award, I had shared my testimony of God's grace and strength both in a closed-country and in standing up to abuse in my marriage. President McAllister asked for me to share my heart regarding the truth that we are all equal in God's sight. Jesus had given me a podium! That day I watched people stream across the campus to Trinity Chapel to attend this ceremony honoring everyone who live lives of kindness, respect, and courage.
I praised God for blessing me with this opportunity to share His heart and thanked Him for fulfilling the vision. But God wasn't done. Just four months later, the University asked me to speak again--this time at my graduation baccalaureate. Overwhelmed, I went to the Throne of Grace and asked for the Holy Spirit's words and wisdom. I wanted to encourage, strengthen, and spur closer to Jesus the staff and family members attending in honor of our 2013 graduating class.
Jesus did it. He gave me the words and gave people who had become very dear to my heart His message of hope, compassion, and right-standing with Him. He is amazing. Always, He prepares us then sends us, empowered with His strength, into a future we could never have imagined or created for ourselves.
Jesus--Our Beautiful Redeemer!
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